Following the loss of thousands of trees in the Greater Worcester area to Asian Longhorned Beetles, the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay (NABB) is sponsoring a training session at the Commonwealth Avenue Mall later this month on how to detect the troublesome insects.
“Every time the beetles were discovered in a new location, a concerned citizen found them,” said Jennifer Forman Orth, an invasive species ecologist from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources who will be on hand at the seminar. “We’re trying to get the word out about what the beetles and tree damage look like, so [citizens] can become stewards of the neighborhood.”
The beetles that feed on leaves, twigs and young bark were first discovered around Worcester in August of 2008, although they are believed to have come to the area 12 years beforehand. To date, 25,000 of the 167,000 trees in the area surveyed have shown signs of damage from the bugs, and there are nearly 1 million trees yet to be examined.
The insects, distinguished by their black-and-white bodies and long antennae that extend from their heads, were first discovered stateside in Brooklyn in 1996. They likely arrived in the U.S. in shipping crates made of infested wood that were shipped from China.
While the beetles have yet to be seen in Boston, the city is full of potential host trees, such as American elm, Sugar Maples, birches and weeping willows and other hardwoods. Signs of damage typically include bored exit holes in trees and the insects’ frass, which resembles sawdust.
NABB member Anne Swanson, who also attended a Sept. 17 session in the Public Garden with Forman Orth, said the training would only takes a few minutes and asked residents living in upper stories to attend.
“These insects tend to attack the canopies of trees,” Swanson said. “We’re urging people in the upper stories to keep an eye out for them with binoculars.”
Swanson added that the session was scheduled for mid-November, since tree damage was easier to detect once the leaves have fallen.
Meanwhile, Forman Orth describes the seminar as proactive, emphasizing that prevention is the best deterrent.
“We don’t expect to find anything, but we want people to be aware,” she said.
NABB will hold its training session on Asian Longhorned Beetles at the Commonwealth Avenue Mall at Arlington Street on Saturday, Nov. 14, at 9 a.m. Attendees are encouraged to bring binoculars and opera glasses. For more information, contact Anne Swanson at 617-262-0675 or via e-mail at anneswanson@verizon.net.

On Oct. 27, the Boston Ward 5 Democratic Committee held its regular October committee meeting at the Community Church of Boston in Copley Square.
At that meeting, Michael Ross, the incumbent Boston district city councilor for District 8 and his challenger, Oscar Brookins, and the candidates running for Boston city councilor for the Second District participated in an hour-long Candidates Forum, addressing a series of questions from the members of the committee concerning issues of the day, including education, public safety and the economy.
Immediately after the conclusion of the forum, the members of the Boston Ward 5 Democratic Committee voted on whether to endorse any additional candidates for election. At the meeting, Michael Ross, the incumbent Boston district city councilor for District 8, was endorsed by the committee. The members of the committee also voted to endorse Stephen Murphy, Boston city councilor at-large, for reelection.
In all, the Boston Ward 5 Democratic Committee has endorsed the following candidates running for office in the municipal election on Nov. 3:

For mayor - Tom Menino
For Boston district city councilor for District 8 - Mike Ross
For Boston city councilor at-Large - John Connolly, Stephen Murphy and Ayanna Pressley

The Emerald Necklace Conservancy will unveil a map and guide to Boston’ historic Emerald Necklace Park System tomorrow, Wednesday, Nov. 4, at the organization’s annual meeting at Wheelock College. The 1,100-park system includes Boston Commons and Public Gardens, Back Bay Fens, the Riverway, Olmsted Park, Jamaica Pond, Arnold Arboretum, and Franklin Park.
The map is designed as a self guided tour of park features and history. Pedestrian and bike paths are highlighted, as well as surrounding greenspace. In the Back Bay Fens along the bike and walking path, for example, the guide explains that the Japanese Bell sited there was “found on a scrap heap in Yokosuka and brought back by sailors of the USS Boston in 1945. In 1953, the Japanese government wished it to remain in Boston as a gesture of world peace.”
The map is part of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy’s work to inspire residents and visitors to explore, learn about, and support Boston’s largest park system. The Necklace also passes along and into Brookline. The Emerald Necklace Conservancy is a non-profit umbrella organization whose members advocate for park restoration and use.
Map designer Jill Conley of Jamaica Plain describes the collaborative effort, "It was a pleasure working as a team with the Emerald Necklace Conservancy's Project Manager Don Eunson, Cartographer Ken Dumas, National Parks Service's Alan Banks and several of ENC's partners over an eight month period to produce a piece that would highlight the wonderful features contained within the Emerald Necklace. Everyone generously gave of their time and expertise to contribute to this labor of love."
The annual meeting and map unveiling is a free event and open to the public. David Forbes of the Center for Whole Communities will be the keynote speaker. ENC asks for those interested in attending to RSVP. For a preview of the map and information about the Emerald Necklace Conservancy’s annual meeting, go to Emeraldnecklace.org .

On Nov. 5, Ben Sherman will open its fifth U.S store on Newbury Street in Boston. Following the triumphant launches of the New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Francisco stores and the positive trading success the company has enjoyed, this 2,800 square-foot store is the natural progression for Ben Sherman in the U.S. market place.
"Ben Sherman’s forthcoming store in Boston, our fifth American retail installment, reflects a natural choice in the expansion of the brand in the U.S.A.,” said Christie Sawchyn, U.S. retail director of Ben Sherman Group Ltd. “We are very confident that presenting Ben Sherman's complete lifestyle offering in the vibrant retail environment developing in Boston will deliver the same success our existing retail stores are generating."
The Newbury Street location will offer all Ben Sherman’s product portfolio, including men’s wear, women’s wear, footwear, denim, tailored suits, neckwear, eyewear, leather goods and headwear.
In 1963, Ben Sherman started making shirts from a small factory in Brighton, England, and is now a complete line offering women’s wear, kids and youth clothing, footwear and accessories. Recently acquired by U.S.-based Oxford Industries, producers and marketers of branded and private label apparel for men, women and children, Ben Sherman is a truly international business sold in more than 35 countries worldwide.

Get out and vote

Election Day is upon us.
We urge all registered voters to get out and to vote.
The neighborhoods of Beacon Hill and Back Bay should set the example in the voting trend on Election Day.
It would be a wonderful example to set.
It would be meaningful if two such important neighborhoods and voting districts proved that voter apathy and indifference have been buried at the ballot box.
It is a time and an age of voter ambiguity.
It is an era when voters, in their anger and frustration, have given up on government or tend to express themselves by failing to get out and to vote in meaningful numbers.
Many simply don’t care and they will tell you so.
This comes against a backdrop of so many who used to care so much about the political life and times of the city, the state and the nation.
This is how it was when many of us were growing up, when the nation, the state and the city was a far different place than it is today.
We have transited from a time and place of abundant voter participation to a time when many more voters stay away than actually come out to vote.
Many younger people are utterly disinterested.
Many older people feel the same way, although it is older people by and large who can be depended on to participate at much higher percentages than any other group of voters.
There is a much higher degree of voter interest in reality television shows than in the mayoral election.
The Patriots next Sunday will pull a larger crowd of neighborhood viewers than the numbers who will vote for city councilors this time around.
It is the age of wonder. It is the age of indifference.
Everyone wants to have a say but no one wants the responsibility for changing anything.
Voting remains our only link to the notion that we are descended from patriots who fought for that right and for that right alone.
Get out and vote.

Bunker Hill Day, Evacuation Day

It is incomprehensible to those of us who remain loyal Americans that two venerable Suffolk County holidays celebrating the war for American Independence are about to go the way of the Model T.
Bunker Hill Day and Evacuation Day are scheduled to be ended by the Legislature as a cost savings – even though the Legislature is pointing out it won’t save much.
Hundreds gave their lives at Bunker Hill, with most of them buried where they fell, including the British whom they fought over that precious piece of dirt.
The first settlers of Beacon Hill watched Charlestown burn after that battle.
Everyone living here at that time was vastly affected by the bravery shown by Americans in battle against the finest soldiers thrown at them by the British Empire.
Bunker Hill Day’s time has come, said the governor.
We are horrified. We respectfully disagree.
The time should never come when the day honoring the deaths of those who gave their lives on the altar of freedom is done away with to save a few dollars.